I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

I'm going with Malli on this one. The quote is probably including a bunch of things that could very well be needed during pre and post operative times.With Wally's bleed they are likely going to be very concerned about his PCV and albumin levels since surgery is only going to stress his body more and could further complicate those issues. A blood transfusion or at the least Hetastarch or something else to help him maintain his blood pressure during surgery might be needed. During surgery they are probably going to have to take out several inches of intestine to ensure that they got clean margins on either side of the tumor. There are drugs they will likely add to his fluids to prevent nausea and help his intestines regain proper motility after surgery. Greyhounds are notorious for not dealing with pain well so he'll probably be in a CRI of pain meds or at the least a constant schedule of IV drugs for a day afterwords to ensure he's as comfortable as possible. That's on top of IV antibiotics and he'll need follow up bloodwork to make sure his PCV is holding and albumin levels don't drop. If they did and he wasn't transfused before, they'd likely do it then.Hopsitalization will probably depend on how quickly he's up and moving around comfortably as well as getting him to eat. Another complicaton could be the build up of stomach acid if things don't begin to move correctly or he's not eating. Then they might need to place a nasogastric tube to remove the excess stomach fluid build up and even give him liquid nutrition. Not eating and having surgery can wreak havoc on protien levels which are essential for healing.Is a specialist removing the tumor? That may also account for some of the cost. I know it sounds high but it sounds about right for our facility. Then again we are a 24hr emergency and critical care clinic.

So I found this great stuff called PDG which is used on wasting dogs. I mixed some into his daily ice cream (one of the few things he'll eat without turning his nose up) and I'm also force feeding him PDG twice a day. I hate force feeding him. He hates it too. But I'm sick of looking at a skeleton instead of a dog

Why can't it be Monday so my vet is back???

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France

morning I am so feeling for you...oh honey...you know i have a deep empathy for you...

I had a ematiated dog one time ..I would make a great chicken soup..I just put a cut up chicken vegetables in a pressure cooker with water to cover...and just cook the snot out of it... ...I think it was 10lbs pressure for 90 min ..then I would puree it up bones and all stir some yogurt into it freeze it in portions .....and give it to her both frozen and softened ..however she would eat it ... ..and since i am half Jewish I believe chicken soup helps everything

another suggestion would be baby food maybe? I dont know what PGD is I will have to look it up

SisMorphine wrote:So I found this great stuff called PDG which is used on wasting dogs. I mixed some into his daily ice cream (one of the few things he'll eat without turning his nose up) and I'm also force feeding him PDG twice a day. I hate force feeding him. He hates it too. But I'm sick of looking at a skeleton instead of a dog

Why can't it be Monday so my vet is back???

Let me know how the PDG works out. I might have to try it on Cruiser because he's a jerk and apparently doesn't eat anymore.

With all that pocketpit mentioned, 3-5k makes sense... There's so much more care involved into surgery on a cancerous patient, I also tought in this price they would include a histology (analysis of tissues/cells) for the tumor, which can indicate a lot about the cancer type and speed.

Well he ate an entire sample pack of Bravo freeze dried turkey blend. I'm going to see if I can add in a package to our Bravo order that we made yesterday. He also ate almost 1/4 pound of raw ground duck! I'm getting the PDG into him and I'm decided to force him to walk to the end of the street and back twice a day because he is losing so much muscle.

He's still not feeling or looking great, but yesterday he had some spark in his eyes which made me so happy. He still loves going to work with me, and screaming at Teeny for being an idiot. I still haven't made any decisions yet, my vet comes back on Monday.

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France

So glad to hear you've found things he will eat. I thinks someone made this suggestion earlier, but it worked for us when Trouble couldn't eat because of some throat issues. I was encouraged by a friend to offer her baby food. I gave her a jar of meat feeding her with a spoon. Her face lit up when she discovered she could eat it and not hurt. I kept giving her the baby food until she was able to eat kibble again.

So my boss spoke with Bette, the owner of Bravo, today and she's going to bring me a buttload of crazy samples for Wally to try and entice him to eat more. I can't wait until the lecture Tuesday night. And I truly hope I don't have to resort to Purina before then *vomit*

Tonight he ate his ice cream and another handful of Innova Large Breed Senior . . . but turned his nose up at 2 different cans and raw duck. So weird. But whatever he wants to eat is fine by me. Time to mix up his PDG!!!

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France